I am so thankful to Tin House Books, Kenzie Allen, and Netgalley for granting me advanced access to this galley before publication day. I really enjoyed the dialogue and plot of this book and can’t wait to chat this one up with my friends!

3.5 Stars

Really enjoyed this book of poetry that examines trauma, the body, and more, investigating each topic like an anthropological dig into the truth.

I was perhaps not in the right headspace when I first started this poetry collection. I didn't feel as much of a connected to the words, and therefor didn't enjoy the first half of the collection. Once I took some time away from my other heavier books, I was able to spend more time with Allen's words and I believe I better understand the poems. There were a few poems towards the end of this collection that I really enjoyed.

It was overall wonderful to read these poems and I am excited for this collection to come out. Allen is such a talented Indigenous poet, I am looking forward to seeing more people pick this up.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tin House for this ARC!

Gorgeous collection of meditations on identity, pop culture stereotypes, and the weight of existence. Great summer read.

Thanks to Tin House and NetGalley for this eARC!

I recently took a one-day, online poetry workshop led by Kenzie and was excited to learn Kenzie had a poetry collection coming out. I immediately jumped on NetGalley to request this book. This poetry collection is a raw and deep exploration of Indigenous personhood, through tragedies, survival, but also celebration, in the midst of colonialism. I loved the way the collection was written, like that of an archeologist. It was such an intimate collection. I plan on re-reading the book and I can't wait for Kenzie's next collection!

Thanks to NetGalley and Tin House for the ARC!

Based on the title, one might expect Kenzie Allen’s "Cloud Missives" to be a collection of weightless, wispy poems, but that would underestimate how much heft the book actually has—these are storm clouds, capable of powerful and unexpected turns.

Most of these pieces circle the difficulties of Indigenous identity in a world where mainstream culture has reduced it to racist iconography. We see well-known characters like Tiger Lily or Pocahontas (TM) parasitically leeching off the speaker’s sense of self, highlighting the way colonialism is not a historical event—it’s an ongoing reality. The poet pulls off a remarkable balancing act in her ability to engage with these themes and images without indulging them, and it showcases how cohesive and intentioned the whole project is. The marketing copy for this book invokes Allen’s anthropological impulse, and I think it’s a great articulation of how rigorous this collection feels, both in its methodological precision and the way the speaker reconstructs the present from countless artifacts.

Another aspect of the collection I really admire is how each poem feels like the broken shard of a narrative—the reading experience is often like hearing a heated argument through a wall. There’s a groundedness to the language and a unique cadence to what the speaker reveals or withholds, and both qualities make for a book that seems certain to reward attentive re-reads. Periodically, it slips ever so slightly, as the “Letters I Don’t Send” section feels like a familiar poetic fantasia, but it’s only a minor dip in an excellent collection.

Also, “When I Say I Love You, This Is What I Mean” made me weepy. What a poem.

This is a collection that needs to be savored; it deserves the time it takes to pour over and steep in Allen's words. I found myself pausing often to really absorb and reflect on the feelings this work provokes. A beautiful collection that touches on love, tragedy, and what it means to be an indigenous person. I look forward to rereading this collection over and over again.